Rubens Barrichello slammed his Brawn team after falling from first to sixth during the German Grand Prix:

There was a great show from the team today of how to lose a race. I did all I could today, I got first at the first corner, and they made me lose the race.

He added:

If we keep going like this we’re going to lose both championships.

To be very honest with you I wish I could get on a plane and just go home, because when I go to the team afterwards there will be a lot of ‘blah, blah, blah’ and I don’t want to hear that right now.

Barrichello took the lead from Mark Webber at the start and had a further boost when Webber received a drive-through penalty. Despite that he ended the race sixth, 24 seconds behind Webber.

How did it happen?

He lost a lot of time in his second stint getting stuck behind Felipe Massa. That allowed Webber to recover the deficit from his penalty.

More problems awaited him at his second stop, where his fuel rig didn’t work, forcing the team to use his backup rig. That allowed them to get some fuel in the car – but not enough.

That left the Brawns running line astern, Barrichello ahead, with Button behind him. Button stopped one lap later than Barrichello, and duly took the place of his team mate.

Barrichello’s final stop came ten laps before the end of the race. If the team didn’t bring him in at the last possible moment, he could realistically claim that cost him the chance to say ahead of Button. But without knowing how much fuel they actually got into his car it’s impossible to say.

Given the championship situation many will draw the conclusion that Brawn are favouring Button over his team mate. But when asked if that was the case, Barrichello denied it. On the face of it, it looks as though he was just been unlucky.

There were similar questions over Brawn’s strategy at the Spanish Grand Prix, when Barrichello lost the race to Button.

What do you think about Barrichello’s outburst? Did Brawn get his strategy wrong, or have they made a conscious decision to favour Button? Have your say below.

121 comments on Rubens Barrichello lashes out after Brawn strategy costs him more points

What is there to debate ? I have said it many times already from race #1 of this season. Brawn is Button’s team. A British team w/ a British owner, a British sponsor and of course a favorite British driver. This discussion should be over by now. Let’s all accept w/ it and live w/ it. This is Button’s team for as long as he is in it.

Barrichello was ahead of Button, but he slowed down to a crawl and he actually held up Button.

Are you suggesting they told Barrichello to slow down and let Button by?

Barrichello blew it again. He just cannot manage his tyres properly. Which makes it especuially silly that he was calling for a 2 stop strategy. Imagine him doing even more laps on those tyres after he ruined them in.

What we should get used to is that Barrichello overestimates his abilities and is unable to take strategies into account. For instance he thinks he’s just as fast as Webber, but in reality he’s of course only as fast since his 3 stop strategy is making him .5s a lap faster.

I have to agree with the argument that Rubens Barrichello still remembers only too well the Michael Schumacher years at Ferrari. I firmly believe that Rubens felt by moving to Honda in 2006 he would escape this kind of situation, in which he feels his team mate is getting the thicker end of the wedge from the team.
When the cracks begin to appear between team mates, they often manifest themselves into bigger ones as time goes by. We saw that at McLaren in 2007 during the fallout from Hamilton’s outburst following the Monaco Gp, which certainly led the the events in Hungary later in the year.
A blind man could see, following the Barcelona race this year, just how aggrieved Rubens was. During the press conferance, the Brazilian did well to keep his composure.
One could argue he may well should have been better
prepared for this. After all, his boss and team owner, Ross Brawn, played a massive role in Schumacher’s dominance not only of F1 but within Ferrari.
The way I see it, Rubens had the perfect excuse at Ferrari not to win grands prix. Michael Schumacher! At Brawn Gp, the pundits have been less forgiving of his lack of performance.
For nearly a decade, Jenson Button wallowed in the midfield in poorly concieved cars, yet in 2009 has claimed six grands prix victories. The bottomline is that a good strategy and team decisions maybe one thing, but only the driver can truly maximise his machine.
Rubens lost the race behind Felipe Massa. Mark Webber had been handicapped by a penalty, yet still won. That tells its own story.

I feel for Rubens but these outbursts against the team have to stop. He was not in possession of all the facts as was the case he last dumped on the team that has him where he is today. He seems to forget up and until December he was destined to hang up his helmut and be a spectator of the sport.
No doubt he is anxious about his chances at a driver’s championship being so close and yet so far away it would seem.
The fact is that the Brawn was not expected to do well yet has been very competitive, got off to a great start and now is slipping back into the hands of others who have progressed more than Brawn has in the last few races. As Ross says, 11th fastest lap speed is not going to win races. Ruben’s assumption is that they were 5th and 6th by essentially a pit stop which is true on the surface. However what he and the rest of us do not know is what would their fortunes been loaded with fuel for a long second stint in a 2 stopper? On their 4th stint they were both light on fuel, graining the rears badly and Alonzo was right there. They could well have finished poorer than where they did.
Rubens needs to shut up, be a team player and be thankful for what Ross has given him.
The guy who won today has suffered long and hard not winning is something over 130 races. Take a lesson Rubens and stop whinning or retire.

As far as I know there is nothing to stop Ruebens from spraking his mind (having his outbursts)he’s well known for wearing his heart on his sleeve and this shouldnt suprise anyone.

He may actually have been in possession of even more facts than we are, even now – he does know a thing or two about racing.

He was not destined to hang up his helmet last Decemeber, he was actually determined that if
he didnt have an F1 seat he would race in a different series.

Im in the something smells bad camp, and not just in Brawn but possibly in F1 – there are so many
incidents that seem designed to generate headlines that it becomes more about the politics than the sport.

Simone, don’t get me wrong. I felt Rubens suffered while at Ferrari during Schumacher’s reign and Massa did as well until MS retired.
Rubens may have thought he would race in another series but where were the offers? He could say that but what was the reality?
There were none from NASCAR, Indy Car, and I did not see his name on any press release saying that the LeMans series was interested. He sure would not go to any lesser stature series. He is too proud a man and rightfully so.
The fact is he is getting on in age for F1 and his ability to race in it is a function of Ross Brawn’s faith in him which any smart guy would appreciate. If he has an issue the press is the last place to air it. That is my point.

I agree with Rubens completely, although I don’t think he’s right to voice it publically. This was one of the few times that he had been out-performing button and if it weren’t for the pit stop error he would have finished ahead of button, even with a 3 stopper. If they had done a 2 stop strategy he would have at least been on the podium, but its hard for us to criticize Brawn for that strategy call when we don’t know if the car couldve done that long of a second stint with their tire wear issues. Either way I think Rubens gets more of a hard time thatn he deserves, and recently has been proving himself a match (or at least close to a match) for the much younger Button.

and recently has been proving himself a match (or at least close to a match) for the much younger Button.

And by recently you mean through 2007-08 when team had come up with Dog of Car, and Brazilian was working around the problem, out performing the team-mate while his much Favored Brit Team-mate was on mental vacation :-?

I’m with the camp who don’t mind a bit of emotional display and believe that too much was made out of this non-story. We all know Rubens’ frustration. I agree that Rubens has never been “championship” material, but let’s give him some slack, afterall he has driven to win a few respectable (if not fantastic) races, overtaking almost the entire field from the back.

I did watch the race today from start to end, was interesting purely due to strategy and tyres. But until F1 goes back to the fundamentals, i.e. having on-track fights and overtaking for the top 3 positions, we’ll be licking the bones of stories like this.

3 stop was bad.I believe Barrichello is a bit frustrated because of his unlucky situation.Choosing number 1 is not the right time.He out paced Button on the last two races that proves that he still has a long way to go.

I miss james hunt cracking marshalls and drivers fighting, screw the corporate crap .
Don’t think ruebens wanted to do the team job this year but button is leading the championship so he will have to consider how his season is going to pan out now he has slipped back and redbull are closing in he may have to be a no.2 all over again .

with respect to the team, i still don’t understand why they didn’t keep him in the pit for an extra 3 seconds and fuel him to the end. that would have made up a point or 2. i think even with the primary fuel rig, the fuel amount was set as it was with the second, so the 3 stop strategy would have been the same, his 2nd stop would only have been shorter…

in hindsight, Brawn’s worst enemy were the tires, they just can’t heat them up efficiently. this was the first time i see not one but two cars snaking around to heat their tires mid race….

I wish Rubens would have thought a little more about what he was saying. He was among my favourite drivers until this year, but he just keeps making statements to the press when he doesn’t have all the facts.

I’m all for drivers speaking their minds, but I would expect them to at least check what the facts of the situation before slagging off the team to the press.

That said, I’d love to know how (in the minds of those supporting the theory that the team conspired to cost Rubens the race) how they managed to make Jenson so much faster that he could catch Rubens up before the final stops…

I think what Ross Brawn said to the BBC in response to Barrichello’s after the race was spot on. Despite the reporters best attempts he didn’t publically lash out at Barrichello without speaking to Barrichello first and knowing all the facts.

I think Barrichello’s comments were down to frustration and when he has had time to reflect and look at all the information I would have thought that his opinions would change.

The Brawn just didn’t seem quick enough to win the race even with Webber’s penalty. I think what cost Barrichello a podium was his failure to pass Massa during his second stint.

The problem on his second stop did cost him places but not as much as the period spent behind Massa. As the Brawn had trouble with it’s tyres I wonder if they could have made a two stop work anyway?